Disclaimer: Primeval and all its characters belong to someone else. Primeval- New World isn't mine either!

Six!

Chapter Eleven- Finding Love

Matt was peering morosely into his beer. He wondered where Emily was. He was a little concerned that Leeds had done something to her – he was supposed to be bringing her to the club but they were very late. He told himself to calm down. There were a million things that could have happened to make them late – the car could have broken down, or they could just have left late for some reason or another. Emily could have forgotten something and gone back for it, or... Leeds could have kidnapped her or dragged her back with him through the anomaly...

Just as he slammed his glass down on the table ready to storm out and go and find them, having convinced himself something bad had happened, there they were! Laughing and joking – arm in arm at the entrance to the bar. His first feeling was an overwhelming sense of relief – she was here – and she was safe. His face lit up as he caught her gaze. He rose and approached the two latecomers.

"Emily! Thought you were never going to get here!"

"I'm so sorry, Mr Anderson!" Ken Leeds apologised. "It was entirely my fault. We stopped off on the way here at a delightful spot and had a little picnic – I hope that's alright."

"Oh er- that's fine. You're here now – come along to you two – what would you like to drink?"

Matt's face gave no indication of his thoughts as he ushered the two latecomers to their table. Inside though, he felt all sorts of emotions. He wasn't the jealous type, but these Canadians – he counted Mac as one of them- were causing a few problems for the ARC team. He thought it must be because they were different from the usual people the team worked with, and that was always attractive.

Emily suddenly took his arm and gave it a squeeze as if she realised what he was thinking. He looked at her and smiled slightly, placing his hand over hers in reply. His heart soared as she put her head on his shoulder for a moment before she sat down. He looked triumphantly at Leeds who was now sitting amongst the group, a slight frown on his face.

"Emily..." Matt said quietly after a few minutes. "would you like to dance?"

"I'd love to!" she immediately responded, her cheeks flushing with a pale pink – hardly noticeable to anybody but Matt and Leeds who was also watching her intently.

Matt gallantly offered her his arm and escorted her to the dance floor, where he was finally able to wrap his arms around her and pull her close. He sighed as she settled in his embrace, her head resting on his shoulder.

"Emily..." he began.

"Mmm?" she murmured.

She was enjoying this a little too much, she thought. His arms were strong around her, making her feel safe and protected. His breath was soft against her cheek and she had to suppress the idea of stroking it where she still felt the gentle caress. It had never been like this with Henry – he'd been hard and distant- almost like she was some sort of ornament to show off on his arm, but not to be loved or cherished.

"Emily." Matt repeated. As she looked at him, their eyes met and held for a moment before he continued. "Did you have a good time with Leeds?"

No! That wasn't what he wanted to say at all, but the man's piercing gaze upon them had scrambled his thoughts.

"Yes thank you, Matt. It was fun. So nice of him."

"You like him." Matt almost groaned. It came out like he was a petulant child.

Emily smiled at the whiny tone. Was Matt a little jealous? That was so sweet. Emily was too forthright, however, to play games and enjoy Matt's jealousy.

"I do like him, and actually feel a little sorry for him. He seems to be on the outside of the Canadian group and I think he feels a little lonely. I think he's drawn to my Victorian ways – he is a little old fashioned himself, compared to the others... but let's forget him for a mo..."

Whatever Emily had been about to say was lost when the band struck up a noisy song.

"What?" Matt asked, breaking his hold.

"I SAID..."

"Come on..." Matt took Emily's hand and pulled her along with him. "Let's go somewhere quieter!"

She couldn't quite catch his words, but just nodded and allowed herself to be pulled along. She didn't care where they were going as long as she was with him!

Leeds watched with a sour expression as they left the room together. He sighed sadly. I guess it just wasn't meant to be, he thought to himself, we're from different times, and when I leave here I probably won't see her again although the difference is only two years. Still, maybe we could still be friends. Friends wasn't perfect, but it could still be good. He guessed he'd have to make do with that...

~~oOOo~~

Matt led Emily outside, where they stood just breathing in the cool, fresh air for a moment. Emily wasn't sure what to do or say to Matt. He also seemed to be a little unsure, looking at her tentatively for a moment, as if about to say something, then turning back to look straight ahead.

Suddenly, a crowd of people came from around the corner, laughing and chatting, and began to enter the pub noisily. Matt and Emily were separated as the people walked between them, but as soon as there was a gap between the people, Matt grabbed Emily's hand and pulled her towards him.

"Sorry…sorry…" he said to the milling group. "Come on, Emily- let's just walk a bit."

They began to stroll along the road, hand in hand. Emily didn't know what to think when he didn't let her hand go, but didn't complain. In fact she smiled to herself, enjoying the contact. They walked along in a comfortable silence for a while, just enjoying being together and being able to spend some leisure time without an anomaly interrupting. This thought suddenly occurred to Emily.

"Matt…do you think the anomalies are lessening? We haven't had one for a few days?"

"I'm not sure." Matt thought. "It does seem that way…I don't know if that's a good thing or not. Perhaps stopping New Dawn has changed things back to normal- or maybe we've just been lucky."

"Hmm. Well, I for one am grateful for some 'downtime!' It gives me a chance to learn more about this time and become more…what is it the younger girls say- 'with it?' Something like that. Some of the staff seem to think I'm too proper."

They walked along in silence, Matt wondered what Emily was thinking. He felt bad for her, he knew how difficult it was to be out of your time. The Victorian era was very different to the twenty first century. She was great, he thought. More than great. He suddenly stopped, and twisted her to face him.

"Emily…" he began.

He pulled her to him and gathered her in his arms. His mouth sought hers as he bent her slightly back and kissed her thoroughly. When they broke apart, they smiled at each other, and Matt put his arm around her shoulders and they sauntered back towards the club.

Matt's mind was in a turmoil- he didn't want to move too fast, to frighten her off. He knew she'd been treated badly by Henry, although she'd stood up for herself- but that had made it even worse for her, and Henry had been going to send her to Bedlam- the madhouse- to be incarcerated just for saying what she thought and not being the average Victorian subservient woman.

He wasn't sure he was ready for a relationship himself. He had his own personal demons to face, but that didn't stop him from desiring or wanting her. He had to get things sorted out in his own mind before he told Emily how much he cared about her. As long as Leeds backed off, there was plenty of time… they had their whole lives before them. He hoped it would be together…

~~oOOo~~

Toby fled back to the club in a flood of tears. She ran straight past a group of people from the ARC and ran into the ladies toilets where she went into one of the cubicles and flopped down on the seat and cried and cried.

Suddenly a voice said "Hello? Are you alright in there? Can... can I help in any way?"

"Who's that?" cried Toby her voice thick with sobs.

"It's Lorraine... Lorraine Wickes." came the reply "Do you need any help? Are you okay? Can I get you anything... water or...?"

"No, no... I'm just being silly. Probably too much wine. I'm fine- thank you for caring, but I'll be out shortly. You don't need to worry."

Lorraine wasn't sure what to do so she remained in the bathroom waiting for Toby to emerge. As Toby opened the door to the stall, she was wiping her eyes on a tissue and didn't realise that Lorraine was still there.

"Oh! I'm sorry- I didn't notice you standing there!" she cried sniffing loudly.

"Is everything okay?"

"No... no I'm fine. It's just me being silly!"

"Are you sure? You don't look..."

Toby looked at Lorraine's kind face and her lip and chin began to tremble. She tried desperately to hold it together but couldn't stop her tears from softly rolling down her cheek.

"Oh, I'm such an idiot. I've just made a huge fool of myself! Jess will never talk to me again!"

"I'm sure it's not that bad..." Lorraine cut off mid-sentence as some people entered the ladies room. "Look, we can't talk here... there's a private room down the corridor."

Toby and Lorraine went along to the room, which fortunately was empty, and she ushered Toby into a comfortable chair and went over to the water cooler and poured a plastic cup of cold water.

"Thank you." Toby replied taking a sip of her water "It's just... I made a mistake, that's all. I read it completely wrong. I could have sworn ..."

"What?"

"I was sure Jess liked me too. I mean..."

"Of course she likes you. We all like you."

Toby didn't reply. She looked down at her hands and Lorraine suddenly understood what she meant. "Oh, you mean...like you!"

A tear rolled down Toby's cheek, but she still didn't reply. Lorraine was being very kind, but Toby was hurt, embarrassed and didn't really want to explain her feelings to anyone else. If they were to judge her, it would be too much to bear!

"Toby…dear…it's alright. You can tell me. It won't go any further, I promise. Trust me!" She put her hand under Toby's chin and raised her face so that their eyes met. "You can trust me." she repeated in a whisper.

"Yes." Toby finally said very quietly. She looked at Lorraine, whose expression was soft and kind, urging Toby on. "Yes- I meant it like that. Oh, I feel such a fool. She likes Becker. Why didn't I see that? I really thought she felt... the same as I do." She buried her face in her hands, her cheeks flushing bright red. "I feel terrible. I need to go back through the anomaly now. Yes that's what I'll do. I'll go back right now..."

"No, no, Toby." Lorraine said softly. She put Toby's hands in hers and held them tightly. "You can't do that. Calm down. It's really not that bad. Jess will come round, she won't hold it against you. She'll understand. She's like that, that's why you were attracted to her in the first place, wasn't it?"

"Well yes, I suppose so. But I…I kissed her. How can she forgive me? Oh I don't know what to think or what to do."

"Trust your instincts. Talk to her. She will understand, I promise." Lorraine pulled Toby to her feet still holding her hands.

"Did...did you enjoy the kiss?" Lorraine whispered.

"Yes! No… well, not exactly… actually, thinking about it- it was nice, but that... 'spark' hadn't been there. It was more like a nice... friendly kiss... Oh- I'm so stupid!"

Their eyes suddenly met and held, Lorraine's chocolate brown eyes melting into Toby's. Toby opened and shut her mouth she reading this all wrong too? She didn't know what to think any more.

Suddenly Lorraine's hand let go of hers, and curled its way up around the back of her head, tangling her fingers in the silky hair. Toby held her breath as Lorraine lowered her head to hers and mouth touched mouth.

It wasn't the most romantic kiss- Lorraine's glasses caught a strand of her hair, and their noses bumped, but to Toby it suddenly felt right. Shivers swirled up and down her spine. But she had thought she'd wanted Jess- how could she change her mind so quickly? One look into Lorraine's sultry eyes confirmed it. This had been what she'd been looking for, all along. Her heart skipped a beat as she realised sadly it could only be for a short time- they were returning home soon. She was determined to enjoy it for as long as it lasted. They parted, laughingly- half embarrassed, not daring to look at each other for a moment.

"I...I need to find Jess- make it right!" Toby said.

"I'll come with you." Lorraine said softly, smiling.

Toby smiled back, and hand in hand they made their way back to the party. Toby hoped Jess would forgive her- and be happy for her...

To Be Continued...